After scoring two runner-up finishes in past Mid-States Poker Tourevents, tour pro Blake Bohn made sure to finish the job at the MSPT Grand Falls, a $1,100 Main Event that attracted 201 entrants and created a prize pool of $201,000. The Minnesota native added $54,607 to a tournament tally of more than $1.4 million after claiming victory in an aggressive heads-up match with Nebraska native Jeff Bryan.
Bohn came into the day with a massive chip lead, and he put it to good use, absolutely steamrolling the final table, where he knocked out seven of his nine fellow finalists.
Day 2 of the tournament saw 36 players return to action, but some of them left empty handed including Mark Sandness, who defeated Bohn heads up earlier this year at MSPT Running Aces. Once Justin Heilman busted on the bubble and secured the remaining field a payday, "Red Bull" Robbie Thompson (22nd - $1,754), Kou Vang (19th - $1,754), Lance Harris (16th - $1,949), Day 1b leader Ken Ihringer (14th - $2,144), Renee Kessel (12th - $2,534), and Ryan Skluzak (11th - $2,534) collected payout tickets before the final table was set.
Bubbling the live-streamed final table had to be a tough pill to swallow for Skluzak, as his kings were cracked to bust him in 11th. On another note, Vang will pull back into first place in the MSPT Player of the Year standingsafter Mike Deis knotted things up with a cash at Majestic Star Casino a couple weeks back.
As for the final-table action, Bohn had more than a third of the chips in play and quickly bounced Frank Martinand Max Bergquist to the rail. After a short-stacked Steve Pint bowed out in eighth, Bohn was able to take out one of the more accomplished players in the tournament, Phil Mader, who got some air time during last year's World Series of Poker broadcast by locking horns repeatedly with Phil Ivey in the Main Event.
Bohn's roll continued as he booted Herb Laney in sixth by spiking a king on the river with the A♠K♣ against Laney's Q♥Q♣. Jason Robertson then eliminated Marty Rahbusch, making him easily the second-biggest stack. However, a three-outer at the hands of Bohn left him with only fourth-place money.
Steve Belland finished second the last time the MSPT came to town, and he followed that up with another excellent placing when he busted in third with the Q♥J♥ against Bohn's K♠Q♥ after the board ran out Q♣10♠7♦3♦8♣.
That left Bohn and Bryan heads up, and the action heated up quickly. Bryan doubled up twice with ace-high hands against Bohn's live Kx2x all in pre-flop, as Bohn seemed to be willing to gamble to try to lock up the victory that seemed all but assured with a 9-1 chip lead. With the two deadlocked after Bryan took another big pot off Bohn, the Minnesota native was suddenly staring at the possibility of a third second-place MSPT finish.
However, Bryan made the classic misstep of slowplaying aces as he check-called 100,000 on a 4♦5♥Q♠ board after letting Bohn see the flop for a limp. Both players checked the Q♣ turn, and Bryan fired out 200,000 on the 5♦ river. Bohn shoved all in, and Bryan called with the aces only to be shown 5♠4♣ for a full house. Interestingly, Bohn's runner-up finish to Sandness also featured a final hand of 5x4x against AxAx, with Bohn jamming a straight draw on the flop and Sandness turning him dead with aces full.
Congratulations to Team Pro Blake Bohn on winning the MSPT Grand Falls Main Event for $54,607.
Season 5 of the MSPT will continue at the Tropicana Evansville, which is currently offering qualifiers and will culminate in a $1,100 Main Event this weekend from August 22-24. For more information visit MSPTPoker.com.